The Weekend Report

Coco led the session with an estimated $26.2 million. The first weekend of December has traditionally been one of the lowest grossing of the calendar, so a lack of new national releases wasn’t unexpected.

Exclusive newcomers were ablaze, with Wonder Wheel, the latest from Woody Allen, circling $142,000 from five locales. The Disaster Artist laughed out a $1.2 million box office from 19 rooms. And Venice best-picture winner The Shape of Water flowed to $163,000 from just two movie palaces. Significant expansions of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Lady Bird bolstered award campaigns for both.

It was another dull frame for Indian imports with Hindi Firangi grossing $127,000 and Telugu Jawaan right behind with $116,000. The reissue of Titanic in 3-D was afloat with $424,000 at 87 venues and The Swindlers from China had OK response of $76,500 on 27 screens.

Revenues for the frame hovered around $105 million and sank 46% from last weekend. It was still an 8% improvement from 2016 when the second weekend of Moana led the field with $28.3 million. With four weeks left in the year box office is running 5% behind last year’s pace and industry mavens don’t expect the gap to shrink significantly even with The Last Jedi in the mix.